Journal of palliative medicine
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Observational Study
Attitudes of Patients with Advanced Chronic Illnesses Toward Palliative Extubation in a Country Where It Is Illegal.
Background: Palliative extubation (PE) is the cessation of mechanical ventilation (MV) during terminal illness. Although PE is widely practiced in many countries, it remains illegal in others. Attitudes toward PE of patients at the highest risk for MV were scarcely explored before. ⋯ Conclusion: Most admitted patients with ACIs support the legalization of PE. Such policy change could have major impact on patients' end-of-life preferences. At-risk patients should be the focus of future studies in this area.
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Background: Heart failure (HF) is a progressive, life-limiting illness for which palliative care (PC) is considered standard of care. Among patients that do receive PC, consultation tends to occur late in the illness course. Objective: Our primary aim was to examine patient factors associated with receiving PC in HF. ⋯ Conclusions: While more than 20% of HF patients in our cohort had PC well in advance of death, more than half died without PC. PC involvement seemed to be driven by comorbidities rather than HF. Effective collaboration with Cardiology is needed to identify patients who would benefit from earlier PC involvement.